One week, I was ‘soaking’ up the sun, sea and sand in South Africa; the next I was ‘sweating it up’ in the sun, sea (well, sort of…….) and sand of Saudi Arabia.
After, what is turning out to be an annual pilgrimage back to South Africa for yet another wedding (not mine this time……..), it was back on a plane off to Saudi Arabia, to oversee the construction of the golf course at the King Abdullah City.
So what is King Abdullah City you ask?
Well, it’s so much more than just a property development on a massive scale. Located an hour north of Jeddah on the Red Sea coastline, the city has been Masterplanned as a modern, world-class metropolis, which will become one of the most important cities for Saudi Arabia, providing a permanent home for two million people.
The Golf Course is situated in the ‘Resort Cove’ and forms part of phase 1 of the overall construction schedule for the city.
After a particularly slow start to the Golf Course construction process (some major issues such as irrigation water, procurement of suitable materials…….etc, have had to be dealt with), work is beginning to gather some speed. Shaping is almost complete on Holes 4 and 8, and it is very pleasing to finally see the course starting to take shape…………….however, the only downside to work in Saudi Arabia is that the cool, refreshing, thirst quenching beer I had after a day in the South Africa sun building ‘sand castles’ on Camps Bay Beach, always seems a very long way away!